A weekly thread about the past
It’s catastrophic because it’s a last minute thread, and because it deals with catastrophe. When the Romans suffered terrible defeat upon terrible defeat at the hands of Hannibal, they went looking for what went wrong. After Trasimene, it was obvious … Continue reading The Catastrophic History Thread
Welcome to the History Thread! I didn’t have a chance to prepare a literary article this week, but today is the anniversary of a famous World War II atrocity which made for a nice, if disquieting back-up subject. On March … Continue reading The Massacre History Thread
This week’s History Thread keeps with our recent literary focus. We’ll look at Charles Dickens and his journey to the United States, chronicled in his 1842 book American Notes (for General Circulation), which can be found online here. The title … Continue reading A Dickensian History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today we’ll return to our recent looks at famous authors through their political views, personal relationships or lesser-known exploits. Our subject will be Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, albeit a different Alcott … Continue reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Unfortunately, I’ve been under the weather the past few days so I didn’t have time or energy to work on the header I planned for today. Instead, let’s preview some possible future history-themed threads … Continue reading The History Thread Sees the Future
Welcome to another literary-themed History Thread! This week we’ll look at Bram Stoker, author of Dracula and his relationships with prominent Americans of his time. (I dug a little into Stoker’s politics and found that he was an Irish Protestant … Continue reading The History Thread, or Bram Stoker’s American Friends
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Since we’ve been exploring the politics of well-known American authors in recent threads, I wanted to take a slightly different track by highlighting a lesser-known writer from the 19th Century. Specifically Edith Maude Eaton … Continue reading The Spring Fragrance History Thread
The History Thread returns with another look at the politics of a Classic American Writer – in this case, Herman Melville. The author of Moby-Dick is more like Edgar Allan Poe than Nathaniel Hawthorne (who was Melville’s close friend, and … Continue reading A Whale of a History Thread
This week’s History Thread will be a little different. We talked about Edgar Allan Poe’s political beliefs in last week’s discussion, so I wanted to do a slightly deeper dive into one of his contemporaries: Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne was a … Continue reading The History Thread Hearts Franklin Pierce
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today’s the anniversary of Louis XVI’s execution, so feel free to celebrate by toppling your own tyrannical monarch! Continue reading The History Thread Gets a Head
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today is the anniversary of everyone’s favorite irascible Yugoslavian dictator, Josip Broz Tito, becoming the President of Yugoslavia in 1953. As ever, he has no time for your bourgeois bullshit, but he is willing … Continue reading The Tito-Tastic History Thread
Welcome to the first History Thread of 2020! Since we haven’t had one of these for awhile, holidays and whatnot, you can use this week’s thread to catch up on what you accomplished in 2019 and what you’re looking forward … Continue reading The History Thread Looks Forward
Today’s Weekly History Thread commemorates the blackest mark on Ulysses Grant’s ledger: General Order No. 11. On December 17, 1862, Grant, frustrated by the exploitation of wartime cotton trade by civilian merchants, issued the following proclamation: The Jews, as a … Continue reading The Weekly History Thread
This week’s History Thread looks back at one of the odder events in English history: a series of protests and riots over a statue of a dog in Battersea. The Brown Dog of Battersea stood at the center of a … Continue reading The Brown Dog History Thread
Today’s History Thread remembers the Battle of Eureka Stockade, a seminal event in pre-independence Australia. A series of protests among the miners of Ballarat, Victoria culminated in a full-fledged rebellion against in November 1854. The protests had been triggered by … Continue reading The Eureka History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! It’s the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s proclaiming the “first” real Thanksgiving in 1863, with scarcely a Pilgrim in sight! Discuss what you will today. Continue reading A Turkey of a History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Thanks to Sheltie for subbing last week. It’s the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, a short but powerful dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, about which many myths have grown up over the … Continue reading The History Thread Will Little Note Nor Long Remember
Sheltie, subbing for Agnew, here! With the impending Thanksgiving holiday, let’s take a look back at the eating habits of one of the more obscure Roman emperors, Vitellius. Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Augustus (15-69 AD) was a proconsul turned commander of … Continue reading The November 12 History Thread Feasts Like Vitellius
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Remember, remember how today is the 414th anniversary of Guy Fawkes’ arrest for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot to destroy Parliament and restore England to a Catholic theocracy. Try to remember that before … Continue reading The Treasonous History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today’s picture: On October 28-29, 1922 Benito Mussolini and his fascist Blackshirts carried out their March on Rome, consolidating fascist power in Italy. The culmination of three years of political ferment, it was a … Continue reading The Weekly History Thread Marches
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today’s picture: On October 22, 1844, the world ended. Or so predicted William Miller, a Baptist lay priest from New York who interpreted a passage from Daniel 8:14 (“Unto two thousand and three hundred … Continue reading The History Thread is a Great Disappointment
